Initial Meeting

Jeff and I had our preliminary meeting with our sales rep yesterday.  A lot of surprises, good and ... Well, interesting.  And, at the end of the day, the house is not just affordable, it's "Why didn't we build the first time we wanted to buy a house?" affordable.  Kicking ourselves a little bit in the butt for that.  Now!  The next step, is to figure out what to do with our current house, (I'd say 'home', but mentally, I am already packed, moved and soaking in a great big bubble bath, with a glass of wine in my master bathroom).  This initial meeting was absolutely entertaining and interesting.  My husband and I have never been apart of building our own home, family wise or no experience what so ever.  We are completely knew, and had no idea how the whole experience would go.  So, having this meeting, with absolutely NO paperwork being signed, and having the sales rep spend 2 hours of time with us going over, essentially, everything, was really cool.  We didn't know they'd do that, which is another reason why we've been slacking in this department for some time.  I'd def recommend doing it again to anyone, even if it's just for an eye opener and learning experience,

We're in a minor time crunch, or at least, it feels that way to me.  Ryan Homes is having the Most Awesome Incentive Ever Heard Of, right this moment.  Bad news?  It's scheduled to end on the 14th.  Bit ridiculous to me, to have an incentive for 14 days, but... And, badder news: We're going out of town from Wednesday - Sunday. Awesome.  We'll be meeting with our real estate agent tomorrow night.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

I will go into more detail about the upgrades available, and the ones we choose, next time.  Just wanted to update this for myself, so that way, when I look back at this experience, I can't say... "Man, I was too lazy to post the day after that first very important awesome meeting?  I stink."

Before I get going though.  One interesting thing, that I do not know if anyone else had issues with or even came to realize...

Knobs.
All knobs are your friend.  And, I am talking about your drawers for your kitchen, your master bath and any of your other full baths, not powder rooms with pedestal sinks.  Knobs, ladies and gentleman, are not Ryan Homes' friend, it seems.  It's actually, here in Maryland at least, an upgrade!  $200, flat, for knobs, otherwise, you purchase and install your own.  I laughed out loud at this.  Then, I immediately asked... "Well, how many cabinets are in the kitchen for the Naples?"  Sales rep says... "I... Have no idea".  Interesting.
Did anyone else have to upgrade to knobs, or were they included?  And, it's not even an 'upgrade', you only get one.  There isn't a choice in the matter.  (Negatively, I am thinking to myself... Since they only buy the 1 kind, they must pay $0.01 for each....)

Fun stuff.

Question for all current Ryan Homes owners!

One of my husbands co-workers bought a Ryan Home, in the same community we're looking into this previous year.  Jeff asked him if there were any upgrades he realized he cannot live without and to flip that, any upgrades they could have lived without.

Some of the things his co-worker mentioned were, of course, the Morning Room, Finishing the Basement, and carpet information.  However, there were some added insight from him that I previously hadn't read in any of the blogs.
For instance.  The cost of upgrading the master baths tub to have jets?  $400 in this community.  (Soaking tub, here we come.)  He was also purchasing a Venice, where as Jeff and I are looking into a Naples.  He stated that the Venice's gourmet island wasn't what they really wanted, and instead, replaced it with the gourmet island mostly found in Naples homes.  That interesting mix of an upgrade got me thinking of a million more possibilities! Now, I am incredibly interested and curious if, with the Naples, I could get the bathroom in the basement, not with a tub but a shower.

Have any of you did an interesting mix for any of your upgrades?  And, is there any 'upgrade' that you did do, but realized, 'Hey, instead of granite counters, the corian would have been just as nice?'

2 days until we have our 'Sit Down' with the Sales Rep.  Really hoping to get some Good News Numbers!  Or, we may need to forgo one of our kids, in lieu of the house.

First time for everything...

My husband, Jeff, and I have been reading a lot, (Yes, pretty much every one...), of Blogs pertaining to Ryan Homes.  A couple of months ago, while driving up to Erie PA to visit my in-laws, we passed a planned community, Brunswick Crossing, in Frederick MD and fell in love with Ryan Homes.  Sadly, because we need to continue to work while living there would become quite the burden with a nearly 60 minute plus commute, one way, we have begun to branch out and visit other communities and do more research on Ryan Homes and various other builders.

After reading about 6 blogs in their entirety tonight, I've decided to start my own blog of our hope-to-be-soon-process.  We have a meeting schedule for this upcoming Sunday with a Sales Rep.  Jeff and I really want to get some exact costs and ideas for nearly everything before we decide to think about committing.  We currently are already home owners, but this'll be our first time building a home.  In addition, we really don't know a lot of people who've been able to build their own home.

This entire post is completely random, but!  As the title says, 'First time for everything... ', I've never ran a blog before.  I'm just really excited, and thankful for all of you who've gone through the whole process and opened up your thoughts, opinions and your own processes for everything including Ryan Homes.  This is for all of you, and maybe hopefully, I'll add some new elements and be able to help someone who's considering the same thing we are.

Wish us luck on Sunday!  Really hopeful for some good news on costs, although, after reading all of the blogs, super nervous for all of the options, but glad we're doing this meeting before signing anything.